Do you own your life?

Are you still working for someone else? If you’re not running your own business, chances are that someone else dictates when you work, how you work and when you take vacation. And, with more and more people working 50 hours a week at their jobs, you probably don’t have much time for anything else. In fact, if you’re commuting for an hour each way and working 50 hours a week, you’ve got about four hours left on week days — and I’ll bet much of that is eaten up by grocery shopping, home maintenance and other unpaid work. You probably only get an hour or two to yourself each day — by which time you’re exhausted.

If you haven’t already made the jump to consulting, now’s the time to start thinking about it. If you become a consultant, you can gain control of your life. You can work from home, cutting commute times. You can take vacations and schedule your daily routine according to your own needs. Heck, if you’re working from home, you can unload the dishwasher at lunch time, pop dinner in the oven at 4 pm and be ready for dinner by the time most people are quitting their day jobs.

Even if you aren’t ready to make the switch to full-time consulting, you can start consulting as a second job now. With the extra money, you can hire a housecleaner, get groceries delivered or do something else to make your life easier. Then, when you’re ready, you can go out on your own full-time.